Maruti Suzuki premium sedan will be launched in India during the 2019 festive season and likely to use 1.5L SHVS petrol and all-new 1.5L diesel engines

Toyota and Suzuki are involved in a strategic partnership with India being at the core of action as it holds plenty of significance for both brand’s volume aspirations. Leveraging each other’s strengths, the auto giants have several projects lined up including the launches of rebadged versions starting from next year.

Maruti Suzuki has been reported to supply 30,00 to 50,000 units of the top-selling Baleno and Vitara Brezza to Toyota and they will be rebadged and re-engineered to sell under Toyota dealerships. Their success will be crucial for Toyota that current holds around 4 percent market share and also the relationship between the two brands.

Amidst utilising their production facilities to a vast extent, the tie-up will enable Maruti Suzuki to enter into a new segment. Toyota in return will supply 10,000 units of Corolla Altis to Maruti Suzuki and the latter’s re-engineered version will act as the new flagship model within the domestic range.

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The largest automaker in the country endured uninspiring response for the Kizashi from 2011 to 2014 in the D-segment. However, with the arrival of new-gen Honda Civic and thoroughly facelifted Hyundai Elantra in 2019, the segment will be revitalised leaving Maruti Suzuki to have a second go at the premium space.

In an exclusive report, we can reveal that Maruti Suzuki’s version of the Corolla will go on sale during the 2019 festive season and the internal prototype testing has commenced. According to our sources, Suzuki is currently testing the premium sedan at Rohtak R&D centre in Haryana.

The facility saw the second phase of huge investment of nearly Rs. 2,000 crore for vehicle safety evaluation and speeding up the development cycle earlier this year. The Toyota Corolla Altis is powered by 1.8-litre petrol and 1.4-litre diesel engine options in India with 140 PS/173 Nm and 88 PS/205 Nm respectively. But, Maruti Suzuki will use its brand new powertrain choices.

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The Maruti Suzuki premium sedan will likely derive power from a 1.5-litre SHVS K15B petrol engine that debuted in the Ciaz facelift but with more power and torque outputs. The upcoming BSVI compliant 1.5-litre diesel unit will also serve the purpose of propulsion and it could produce 110 PS and 270 Nm. Both six-speed manual and automatic transmissions are expected to be on offer.